Take TheTrash OutRoger L. Gordon and Vincent VallinBennett Win $1.7 Million For InjuredSanitation Worker

Gordon, Edelstein, Krepack, Grant, Felton & Goldstein 3580 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1800, Los Angeles, CA 90010Phone: (213) 739-7000 Fax: (213) 386-1671 Website: www.geklaw.com

PPuubblliisshheedd iinn:: Big News – September/October 2006the official publication for the Solo and SmallFirm Section from the California State Bar

Style StarsRoger L. Gordon

Vincent V. Bennett

S T Y L E • S T A R S

RO G E R L . GO R D O N

Currently in his 33rd year of practice, Roger L. Gordon’s verdicts in toxic tort, productsliability, construction accidents, premises liability, and medical malpractice have gar-nered him the respect of his peers in the legal community. He has been named a LosAngeles “Super Lawyer” for three consecutive years and is a member of theAmerican Board of Trial Advocates.

His success in toxic tort cases has exposed critical links between environmentalexposure and negative effects on human health. In Franco v. O’Hommel, Gordonrecovered nearly $4 million for a plaintiff exposed to lead in utero.

Gordon’s product liability cases include toxic chemical exposure and improperlydesigned products. In Miller v. Amro Fabricating, the plaintiff fell six feet fromscaffolding onto a concrete floor. Demonstrating that the fall resulted froma scaffolding design that did not provide sufficient warning about properly latchinga guardrail, the jury returned a verdict of $3.7 million.

In medical malpractice cases, he focuses on his clients’ future medical needs alongwith liability associated with the original event. In Romero v. Queen of the Valley, thejury returned a verdict of $24 million in future damages ($7.1 million present value)to a plaintiff rendered quadriplegic and developmentally delayed due toan obstetrician’s negligence.

Gordon at a Glance Education: J.D., Loyola University School of Law, 1972

Admissions: California United StatesDistrict Court, Central District ofCalifornia Ninth Circuit Court ofAppeals, United States Supreme Court

Affiliations: Los Angeles County BarAssociation, American Bar Association,Consumer Attorneys Association of LosAngeles and Consumer Attorneys ofCalifornia Association of Trial Lawyers of America

Special Skills: Arbitrator, medical malpractice cases

Bennett at a GlanceEducation: J.D., University of Californiaat Los Angeles, 1988

Admissions: California United StatesDistrict Court, Central District ofCalifornia.

VI N C E N T VA L L I N BE N N E T TPractice Focus: Medical malpractice, products liability, toxic torts, major

personal injury, civil rights, wrongful death, class actions

Affiliations: Los Angeles County, San Fernando Valley and Mexican American

Bar Associations, American Trial Lawyers Association, Consumer Attorneys of

California and Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles

Special Skills: Can communicate with clients in Spanish

2Gordon, Edelstein, Krepack, Grant, Felton & Goldstein 3580 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1800, Los Angeles, CA 90010

Phone: (213) 739-7000 Fax: (213) 386-1671 Website: www.geklaw.com

F E A T U R E D

Full Frontal Assault Roger L. Gordon and Vincent Vallin Bennett Win $1.7 Million For Sanitation Worker Injured by Front-Loading Trash Truck By Lisa Miller

It wasn’t just “trash talking” when plaintiff’s counsel

Roger L. Gordon and co-counsel Vincent Vallin

Bennett decided to ask a Malibu jury for millions in

damages for their client Ramiro Serrano. They

believed that Serrano, disabled for life, was injured

because of a design flaw in the front-loading

waste-disposal truck to which he was assigned.

The award compensated Serrano for injuries he sus-

tained when a trash bin fell on him as it was empty-

ing into a trash truck. The defendant, Amrep, Inc.,

offered $150,000 before trial, and the plaintiff

demanded $750,000 via CCP 998.

“This may be the first case to expose a very danger-

ous, but easily remedied, design flaw in waste-dis-

posal trucks,” Gordon, named partner with Los

Angeles’ Gordon, Edelstein, Krepack, Grant, Felton

& Goldstein, says.

Defense attorneys Michael Ayres and Timothy X.

Lane of Orange’s Brady, Vorwerck and Ryder

argued that the design is not flawed, but is fun-

damentally safe, it is accepted as the standard

in the industry, and design alternatives are not

practical. The defense asserted that the acci-

dent was the fault of the plaintiff, for not being

attentive and being in a position where he

could be hit by the load. The defense further

contended that a co-employee was responsi-

ble because he did not properly operate the fork

controls.

The defenses’ motions for new trial and also judg-

ment notwith-standing the verdict on behalf of

Amrep were denied.

According to Gordon, a personal injury attorney

for 35 years whose firm focuses its practice on per-

sonal injury, the bin slid off a forklift and broke

Serrano’s neck, leaving him permanently disabled.

Serrano continues to struggle with the demands of

daily living, such as putting on his socks.

“The manufacturer of the truck, Amrep Inc., was

well aware that such an accident could easily

occur,” Gordon says. “But [they] did nothing to

prevent it.”

continued page 4

3Gordon, Edelstein, Krepack, Grant, Felton & Goldstein 3580 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1800, Los Angeles, CA 90010

Phone: (213) 739-7000 Fax: (213) 386-1671 Website: www.geklaw.com

According to Bennett, an associate at Gordon,

Edelstein and co-counsel, the entire tragedy could

have been avoided. And the jury saw this in the

course of the plaintiff’s case-in-chief. The entire

trial lasted 12 days, with deliberation completed

in just one. “We presented testimony that Mr.

Serrano’s crippling injuries could have been avoid-

ed entirely by a few simple design considerations,”

Bennett says.

Gordon, with numerous multi-million dollar trial ver-

dicts, is a member of the prestigious American

Board of Trial Advocates, and a Loyola Law School

graduate.

“This devastating injury could have been prevented

with some forethought by the manufacturer,”

Gordon says. “We hope this decision gives com-

panies pause before releasing potentially haz-

ardous products.”

The trash bin, which weighed 500 pounds, was

being hoisted so that its contents could be deposit-

ed in the hopper on the truck. It fell from the front

loader and struck Serrano, a 45-year-old father of

four. Serrano was knocked unconscious. The impact

broke his neck.

“We presented evidence on Mr. Serrano’s behalf

showing the jury that the truck design of the front-

loading lift did not incorporate any hooks, latches,

self-leveling devices or even a non-slip surface on

the forks of the forklift,” Gordon says. “Any of these

would likely have prevented the accident.”

Amrep’s waste disposal trucks rely on gravity to

keep the bins in place, according to Bennett, which

poses an easily foreseeable risk of serious harm.

Gordon says that this risk extends to workers who use

the trucks, pedestrians, and drivers who might be in

the vicinity.

“One of Mr. Serrano’s co-workers testified that

everyone who operates such a truck drops bins by

mistake from time to time,” Gordon says. “The

defendant’s own experts acknowledged in trial that

operator errors are inevitable, yet the defendant

incorporated no safety devices to protect against

the eventuality.”

Gordon and Bennett demonstrated for the jury,

empanelled by Judge Cesar C. Sarmiento, that any

of several simple, inexpensive safety devices could

eliminate the risk that trash bins may slide off the

forks of the forklifts. Patents are on file for several

types of safety devices that could have prevented

the accident, they asserted.

The trial involved a number of experts. The plaintiff’s

called Fred Smith, mechanical engineer; Harvey

Cohen, human factors; Martin Siegel, mechanical

engineer; Dr. Phil Sobel, orthopedic surgeon; Dr.

Donna Barras, life care planner; Dr. Alfred Bloch,

psychiatrist; and Tamara Hunt, economist. The

defense called Mack Quan, mechanical engineer;

and Anthony Stein, human factors.

The gross jury verdict totaled nearly $4 million for

medical expenses, loss of earnings and pain and suf-

fering. The jury concluded that Serrano was partly

responsible for the accident for standing too close

to the truck as the trash bin was lifted. The manufac-

turer was held liable for 30 percent of the damage,

resulting in a net verdict of $1.75 million for the

plaintiff. The CCP 998 was worth an additional

$195,000 in costs to the plaintiff.

• M A T T E R

Gordon, Edelstein, Krepack, Grant, Felton & Goldstein 3580 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1800, Los Angeles, CA 90010Phone: (213) 739-7000 Fax: (213) 386-1671 Website: www.geklaw.com4